Session 145 - Flies of Death and Decay
General Summary
10th to 25th Kelen (Third Month of Spring) 723TR
The story so far
Soon the Rethemi Civil War will again erupt into violence and death, but where and when?
The heroes have foiled the plans of the former Priestess of Halea, Danisa Chatil, who, in her efforts to appear younger and more attractive, has become an undead monster, an Amorvin. The heroes believe that she resides somewhere in the City of Golotha and plan to visit and put an end to her evil forever.
The continuation of Session 144 - Forever Young.
Location - Earldom of Ithiko in the Kingdom of Rethem.
Part 1 - Spies Wanted
His enemy King Chafin III is arranging a conference to map out his military campaign for the year, somewhere in the City. The Earl wants Athena, aided by her very sneaky unconventional friends, Yureb and Quazzy, to find out what the King's plans are.
The Earl gives the party some background. At the forefront of King Chafin's objectives is how to get the powerful, but squabbling, Agrikian Fighting Orders to cooperate.
The Order of the Red Shadows of Hepra view the Order of the Cohorts of Gashang as upstart traitors, and both organizations hate each other with a passion. The King's pledge to grant the Cohort's land and power after the successful resolution of the war have further antagonized the Red Shadows. As a result, their enthusiasm for the war and loyalty may be in question.
The Companions of Roving Doom and the Order of the Warriors of Mameka can be relied upon to follow the King's instructions; however, the Warriors of Mameka have suffered disastrous military losses at the hands of the Kubora Barbarians. With the Warriors' weakness exposed, the various Agrikian Clerical Orders may be considering usurping the Order of Mamaka, Master of Steel political and religious dominance in the Kingdom.
Part 2 - Plans and Plots
Both Athena and Yureb take on disguises for this mission, Athena's hair is dyed black, and she is given a scar while Yureb takes on another nondescript appearance. Yureb has to be especially careful, for he has personally angered both the King and the deadly Golothan thieves guild.
In addition to uncovering the King's plans, the heroes decide to create a little chaos. Can they drive a wedge between the rival Cohorts of Gashang and the Red Shadows? The Earl supplies them with clothing, weapons, and suits of armor from each organization. He then arranges the heroes to be smuggled into Golotha; however, they will have to find their own way out.
Before the heroes depart, Athena performs scrying on the Senior Priestess Danisa Chatil. She is standing in a luxurious townhouse, looking out of a window. Nearby is a knight with a blue tattoo on the side of his face, and in the background is a much more sinister individual. A muscled warrior dressed in dirty rags with a gruesome metal mask.
Location - City of Golotha in the Kingdom of Rethem.
Part 3 - The Temple of Hidden Beauty
The smuggler drops the heroes off at the Golothian wharf, and the party makes their way to Rusu Island, the cities temple district. The Temple of Halea, the Church of Hidden Beauty, is guarded by uncharacteristically rough-looking men who quiz Athena on Halean Lore. Fortunately, she quickly answers the question on Halea Handmaiden Tania, Princess of Brief Ecstasy, and is granted access to the temple. There they are met by an acolyte who asks that they stow their weapon, but some subtle mind-altering magic from Quazzy, who has taken the form of a young girl, ensures the acolyte forgets this requirement. Quazzy also starts reading the nearby priestesses' surface thoughts.
Since that date, Danisa has not set foot on the temple. She has spent most of her time in the Heptarch's townhouse in the Compound, except for her recent trip to Ithiko, and to attend council meetings. Queen-Mistress Ameline has learned from the returning acolytes (refer to the last session) that Danisa had betrayed Halea and has become an Amorvin, an undead monster, and would happily see her forever destroyed. However, she does not want to be seen to be involved with any such action as reprisals from the evil church of Morgath, who has granted Danisa the gift of undeath, which would be deadly. She supplies the party with whatever information she can, including a rough plan for the tunnels under the Compound, and offers a reward if they complete the task.
Part 4 - The Crypt
The heroes suspect that Danisa will have a sanctum for her physical body to reform in if destroyed. The likely location for this sanctum would be somewhere under the Heptarch's townhouse, maybe in the tunnels under the compound. There is an access point to these tunnels in one of the cities disgusting canals. Yureb scouts this out and helps the rest of the party, magically cloaked in Invisibility, to sneak in.
They find themselves in a passage 4ft deep in water. Yureb spots a suspicious section of the wall and, on closer inspection, reveals an outline of a door but with no obvious opening mechanism. Quazzy Dimension Doors Yureb thought the wall, luckily avoiding appearing in a wall. This opens up to a small chamber with human bones and rotting gore covering the floor, and a stone sarcophagus is set in the center. Yureb finds the opening mechanism for the door and lets the remaining characters in as the gore twist and forms into horrid mangled undead monstrosities. Quazzy magically holds one Mangle at bay, allowing the heroes to dispatch the terrors individually.
Examining the sarcophagus, Yureb believes it has a locking mechanism that can only be unlocked from the inside. Each character takes it in turn with Yureb's crowbar to try and fail to wrench the lid open. The heroes conclude that they must smash it open. Before that, Quazzy decides to check the passageway. She opens the door, and in swarms clouds of Bone Flies. Worse, these flies are dead, and behind it is a huge fly-like Demon. The cloud of Bone Flies envelopes and blinds the heroes, while the fly Demon teleports into the chamber. The flies are soon dispersed, but the fly demon is a much more challenging opponent. Its droning wings put Yureb to sleep, and it summons two Zombies. Quazzy creates a protective barrier around Athena, who then wades into melee.
One of the zombies hits Quazzy, breaking her concentration on Athena's magical barrier; a split second later, the Fly Demon strikes, sinking its diseased proboscis into Athena's shoulder. Athena has not been hit that hard for a very long time and is considerably weakened. Enraged, she hacks at the demon with an expertly placed Balefire of her own. This very nearly destroys it, and Quazzy quickly finishes it off with her magical blasts. However, Athena is forced to use her limited precious magical healing to restore her vitality.
With the Chasme vanquished, the heroes smash the lid off the sarcophagus. Inside Athena spreads Holy Ash, then she performs a ritual that she hopes will disrupt the reformation of the undead. Meanwhile, Yureb used some of his extremely thin and strong rope to prepare a trap that could hold the Amorvin in place if she was to reform in the sarcophagus.
With everything set, the heroes prepare to investigate the townhouse above and hopefully will kill Senior priestess Danisa, hopefully for the last time.
To be continued.
NPC Interactions
Queen-Mistress Ameline Horga.
Challenges Overcome
PC entered the underground passages under the compound and found the hidden crypt.
2 Mangles.
2 Swarms of Bone Flies.
1 Chasme Tormentor.
Created Content
Temple of Halea - Church of Hidden Beauty.
Related Reports
Amorvin, free-willed undead - updated.
Players Character Status
Athena the Banshee - Level 18 Paladin of Vengeance.
Yureb - Level 18 Arcane Trickster.
Quazzy - Level 5 Necromancer and Level 13 Warlock Disciple of Desridaen.
Quazzy
Athena
Yureb
NPC Companion
Dame Lucia Kalormar, Athena's Aid
Order of the Silken Voice (Halea)
Order of the Cohorts of Gashang
Order of the Red Shadows of Hepra
Companions of Roving Doom
Order of the Warriors of Mameka
Holy Ash
Wondrous Item
Agrik is a fire god, the concept of holy-water is abhorrent, instead they use Holy Ash which is often used in religious ceremonies or as weapons against supernatural enemies.
As an action, you empty the contents of this bag onto a creature with 5ft of you or throw it up to 20ft bursting on contact. In both cases make a ranged attack. If the target is a Fiend, Celestial, or Undead it takes 2d6 Radiant damage from ethereal Searing Balefire.
Alternative Uses
The ash can be rubbed over a person’s body, taking 1 minute, reducing any fire damage by 1 or 2 points if the user is a devoted worshipper of Agrik. This benefit lasts until washed off or 1 hour has passed.
Common
Usually a fine black or dark grey ash has with a dry bitter smell, ritually recovered from the ceremonial flames from any church of Agrik.
Often stored in Paper or Canvas bags.
Only sold or gifted to devoted Agrikians.
Cost: 25sp Weight: 1lb
Comments